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Broads Authority Bill (By Order)

Absolutely. We are talking about the same thing—20 per cent. of the board of the two national parks in Scotland is directly elected. I would like something along those lines to be established in the Norfolk broads. We have developed quite a consensus on the issue. It is interesting that the principle of direct elections is supported by both the promoter of the Bill and the Conservatives. Indeed, the principle of introducing direct representation on the board is supported throughout the House, and I am not aware of anyone opposing it when it was raised in Norfolk. The Broads Authority board meets this Friday and will consider a paper from the chief executive that deals with the principle of direct elections, as I mentioned earlier. There is no specific recommendation to support the principle; rather, there is an open recommendation to consider the report. However, I hope that the board will send out a clear signal on Friday that it supports the principle of direct elections, which, above all else, it would be in its own interests to do. Doing so would be a demonstration of self-confidence rather than defensiveness and would remove from the board the slur that it is an unaccountable quango. The Minister has an opportunity today to indicate whether he supports the principle. I suspect that we might risk entering into a long-winded consultation with all the other national parks before any decision is taken. I urge the Minister to consider whether it is worth experimenting in England. We have an ideal opportunity to do so through the Broads Authority, which can be distinguished from the national parks, because it is not in fact a national park. We can try the principle of direct democratic representation on the Broads Authority and see what lessons are learned in a few years' time. At that stage it might be appropriate to extend the principle to other national parks. They might choose to proceed earlier than that. If they did so, I would be delighted. However, I do not want inertia on the part of other national parks to delay the opportunity to develop an important principle. How can we achieve that? The first option, which I favour, is to achieve it through the Bill. I am told that it is impossible to amend the Bill at this stage to introduce direct elections. If that is the case, regrettably I must accept that. However, I should also like to ensure that the idea does not disappear into the long grass, never to be seen again. I want the principle to be pursued. There are two other options that I should like the Minister to consider and respond to. First, is it possible by way of an order, rather than primary legislation, to introduce a principle whereby a proportion of the Secretary of State's nominees would be elected by local people and would then become the appointees of the Secretary of State? Could we use the existing mechanism to introduce direct elections? The attraction of that option is that it could be done much more speedily than having to wait for primary legislation. The other option is that which the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) put forward in his intervention, whereby we use the opportunity of local government reorganisation, which we are told is likely to be imposed on Norfolk in a couple of years' time, to introduce direct elections. Local government reorganisation would inevitably result in a change to the make-up of the Broads Authority board, because there will be fewer local authorities, and would therefore be an ideal moment. That would create a massive challenge for the Government, because it would require two Departments to work together, but I am sure that the challenge can be met and the opportunity seized. In summary, the Bill contains important elements that should go on to the statute book. No doubt it will proceed to the House of Lords today, where it should be scrutinised. It is important that those who oppose it have the opportunity to continue their case, but let us use this opportunity to progress the case for direct representation. Would a move towards direct elections provide an opportunity to streamline the board? I understand that the board is larger than those of other national parks, but that might not be the case. It has been suggested to me that a new board could be made up of 15 people, with seven being appointed nationally by the Secretary of State. The rest of the board could be made up of three representatives from local authorities, three directly elected representatives—one of those local representatives should, perhaps, be a direct representative of the parish councils within the area, because they have a stake—and two representatives of the navigation interest. That is one possible model. I do not particularly favour it, but it should be considered. We want a board that is workable and of a reasonable size, but we want the mix to be right. There should be local democratic representation, and other relevant interests should be represented. It has been good to debate these issues further, and I very much hope that the Minister will give a clear signal that he supports the principle of direct elections to the board.